The past few days

[mojosmom]

I've been off at a seminar on defending death penalty cses for the last couple of days. It was mostly good, but a couple of the speakers were godawful. Do not expect me to pay attention if you misuse the phrase "beg the question", say "acronym" when you mean "abbreviation" and refer to the Compiled Statutes as the "combined" statutes. It also helps if you don't just read your presentation off the power point slides in a boring monotone.

Weird coincidence: I'm reading Alexander McCall Smith's latest Isabel Dalhousie novel, The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday, in which she has to decide whether to publish a paper on the Trolley Problem. So one of the speakers yesterday, a neuropsychologist, talked about some testing which involved . . . the Trolley Problem! (I wasn't reading the book at the time; he was actually quite interesting.)

Saturday, I went and got my flu shot. I had put it off but realized this was the last Saturday clinic. Surprisingly, the place wasn't full. I guess other people are more organized than I am about such things.

Comments

[cleothecat.livejournal.com]

It also helps if you don't just read your presentation off the power point slides in a boring monotone.

Ugh! That was one of my peeves at my last job. I had to attend all these horrible student talks and many of them would just read their presentation at you. If you asked a question that wasn't on the slides, forget it. They only knew what was on the slides. So, they would just scroll back and read the slide to you again.

Initially, I would offer tips to give better presentations, but that wasn't well received, because I wasn't being "supportive of them learning." Of course, standing up and making a fool of yourself is just so conducive to learning.

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

They should be made to watch a tape of themselves. The first time I went to a trial advocacy training, we were videotaped. It was dreadfully embarrassing to watch, but definitely a learning experience! One You really have no idea about your odd little verbal tics until you watch youself.

[zz-neena.livejournal.com]

I'm currently reading that too, and, like Isabel, I have no problem deciding which to choose --- too simple, me.

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

I think most people have no problem choosing. What was interesting was that the Trolley Problem arose in the context of a discussion of traumatic brain injury. It seems that studies show that certain parts of the brain are more active in considering "Moral-Personal" dilemmas than "Moral-Impersonal or Non-Moral dilemmas, and that people with damage to those parts of the brain are more likely to find personal moral violations acceptable, and make such judgments more quckly, than the rest of the population.

Which, although it was not the subject of the discussion, raises the interesting question of whether what we call "morality" is hard-wired in us, and also what the evolutionary benefit is to this.

[islandmomma.livejournal.com]

Yuk - I've attended a few of those this year too!! .. Different subjects of course! Thought about you during my absence - went to Santa Cruz to see a wonderful version of Verdi's "Othello"!! I think you'd have loved it!

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

Probably - I love Verdi! And Othello has some gorgeous music in it, like Iago's "Credo".

[islandmomma.livejournal.com]

I am a total neophyte, but am enjoying learning so much. The season here is so short though, no to mention expensive. I chose Othello because I know the story so well, so I wouldn't be distracted by the translation. It was superb production and Iago stole the show, not surprising. His role is much meatier than in the play, isn't it. He was played by Lucio Gallo. I have no way of knowing how famous he is, this world being new to me. I just know that I will jump at chance to see him again!

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

He did Iago here a few years ago! He was good. Villains always do get the best lines/music, don't they?